Biggles Hits the Trail/plot
Chapter 1: The S.O.S. Biggles, Algy and Ginger are at dinner celebrating Ginger getting his "A" licence when they hear an S.O.S. broadcast on the B.B.C. radio. It asks Biggles to go immediately to Brendenhall Manor where his uncle Richard "Dickpa" is very ill. The message also cryptically asks him to exercise the same caution as he did in his previous visit (see The Cruise of the Condor). Puzzled, Biggles calls the B.B.C. and learns that the S.O.S. was placed by one Lord Roger Maltenham and he has left a message at Brendenhall Station for him. Our friends sent off and collect the message. Among other things, it tells him to watch for strange people around the manor, and that if he sees a blue light, then he must run for it. They drive up to the Manor but have to swerve desparately to avoid a tree which comes crashing down on the car. They get out unhurt but see the blue light! Biggles leads the way into the park. Biggles fires at the source of the beam of light but it comes to rest on his hand and causes him to drop his gun. They run to the house but no one answers the door. Biggles climbs in through a window and lets the others in. The house appears to be armed like a fortress, with weapons everywhere. They see someone running towards the house pursued by blue lights. Biggles and Algy fire at the vague blue forms, causing them to disappear. The man collapses at the door--it's Maltenham. Chapter 2: Dickpa's Story They find Dickpa, like Maltenham, also in a state of exhaustion. He tells an incredible story. He and his friend Maltenham, otherwise known as Malty, had travelled to Western China where they heard talk about a Mountain of Light in Tibet. They tried to find it but discovered that some mysterious, unknown, force was guarding its secret. There had been several attempts on their lives which dogged them even as they escaped into India. On a ship to England, Dickpa found a chest in his cabin opening by itself. He saw nothing insidhe but slammed it shut and roped it tight. When the ship docked, they found a dead Chinese man inside. Somehow, he had made himself invisible! Chapter 3: The Roof of the World Malty agrees to finance another expedition to Tibet and our friends set off in an ampphibian named Explorer. Approaching the mountains, the engines suddenly wind down in tandem. Biggles turns away and the engines revolutions start to rise again. Puzzled but convinced that something is wrong, Biggles puts the aircraft down on a plateau and they set up camp. Chapter 4: The Mountain of Light Night falls and they see a bluish glow in the sky. Climbing a scarp, they see the Blue Mountain. Dickpa, from his research concludes that there must be a lot of radium in the mountain to cause it to cast such a bluish glow and is excited by the propect. Biggles, on the other hand, notes that something from the mountain was probably what affected the engines. So they would have to walk if they wanted to get there. Chapter 5: The Silver Stream The next morning they make their way through a narrow gully towards the Mountain. As they walk, all of them, except for Ginger, begin to feel strangely tired. Soon they can barely move. Seeing sparks when his rifle touches the ground, Biggles realises that the ground is somehow electrified and this is paralysing them. Ginger alone is unaffected because he is wearing rubber soled shoes. Biggles sends Ginger to fetch the waterproof sheets from their tent as a form of insulation. But no sooner has Ginger left then they see a swarm of silvery centipedes coming at them from out of a cave. They can barely lift their weapons to shoot, not that it would have done much good. Fortunately Ginger gets back in time. With insulation on their shoes, they can walk again and beat a hasty retreat back down the gully. Chapter 6: Marooned Something strange happens. The centipedes suddenly stop and appear to be dead. From the rocks above the cave, they hear a man in a Scottish accent cry for help. Biggles sends Ginger, Dickpa and Malty back to the aircraft while he and Algy move forward to investigate. Following the instructions of the man, they head through the cave and emerge onto a plateau where the man appears to be battling some shadowy forms. Following the lead, Biggles and Algy fire at various shadows. Biggles calls to everyone to get back down into the cave but the man says they can't. The centipedes were on the move again, back into the cave. And soon the way down into the cave is blocked by a rock door. The man sabotages the door to prevent it being opened again. It maroons them on the plateau, but it does at least avoids them being eaten alive by the centipedes. But they are not out of options: Biggles gets the idea of lighting a bonfire to summon Ginger and soon the Wanderer is flown up to the plateau and the party is reunited. Chapter 7: Angus Tells His Story The man introduces himself Angus McAllister, a former ships engineer who had been kidnapped more than 50 years ago and forced to serve the Chungs, an ancient race which controlled the Mountain of Light. The radium in the mountain had mysterious health effects. The Chungs did not fall ill and the lived for a long time--Angus himself had hardly aged since he had been taken. Over many years, the Chungs had developed many technologies, including the centipedes which could only move over electrified ground, and ray weapons which gave out a blue light which could paralyse and then blind victims. The Chungs planned to conquer the world with their technology and were almost ready. McAllister says it is up to Biggles and his team to stop them. He would not be able to help as he had been injected with a drug and would die within 12 hours unless he could get another does of it. But Malty thinks he can help. He analyses Angus' blood and discovers that the drug is an opium derivative and gives him an antidote. The party prepares to spend the night on the plateau. Chapter 8: An Anxious Night During the night, the Chungs try to drill through the rock door and then begin to deploy their ray weapons on high ground. Angus tells them the rays were coming from a ledge on a mountain path leading from the gully to an artifical lake formed by a high dam. This gives Biggles an idea. Algy would taxi the aircraft about on the plateau to prevent it being hit and damaged by the rays. Meanwhile, Biggles and Ginger would trek up the path to attack the Chungs operating the ray guns. At dawn, Algy would take off and then land on the lake where they would be safe. Chapter 9: A Grim Journey Biggles and Ginger make their way up the mountain path and make a surprise attack. They succeed in destroying the Chung ray gun positions in the ledge and driving the surviving Chungs down the mountain. Chapter 10: Biggles Declares War Dawn comes but Biggles and Ginger do not hear the Wanderer start up. They see the aircraft surrounded by blue-robed figures--the Chungs had captured the plateau! Next the see Algy running up the mountain path, shooting to his rear, pursued by Chungs. Biggles covers him with his Lewis gun and drives off the pursuers. They capture a purple-robed Chung who appears important and Biggles has the idea of using him as a hostage. Algy tells Biggles that the Chungs had drilled through the rock door and managed to capture Dickpa, Malty and Angus. A party of Chungs approach accompanied by Angus. It's the Chung leader Ho Ling Feng and he wants to parley. He believes his son Prince Sing Hi was on the mountain when Biggles attacked. He wants to search for his body. Biggles tells him that he is still alive but wounded. He would hand him over if he releases Dickpa, Malty and Angus. Ling Feng agrees. Chapter 11: Council of War Algy flies Dickpa and Angus in the Wanderer up to the lake. Biggles, Ginger and Malty join them after treating Prince Sing Hi of his wounds and returning him to his father. The party now discuss their options. They agree it is time to leave but first they want to get hold of some radium and then there is also the urgent need to stop the Chung plans of taking over the world. Neither task appears easy, but from the high ground, Angus shows Biggles the layout of the Chung facilities, including their power station and village. Biggles considers the high dam they are standing on and has some ideas. Chapter 12: Biggles Disappears Biggles and Ginger set off to the Mountain of Light to gather some radium rich rocks to bring home. Along the way, they see a terrifying sight: one entire side of the mountain had been eroded into a gigantic spur of rock, mounted on thin, precarious foundations, all but ready to topple over and fall into the lake below. On the Mountain of Light, they see blowholes and hear the sounds of machinery coming through, from inside the mountain. After a while Biggles tells Ginger he thinks the side of the mountain is hollow and they appear to be walking on a thin crust. To demonstrate, he stamps his foot hard. And the ground beneath him gives way and he falls into a huge hole into the depths of the mountain! Biggles awakes and explores the caverns inside the mountain and discovers the power station. However he is spotted by some Chungs and, being unarmed, is forced to fight them by breaking off pieces of stalagmites to use as clubs. He manages to lose his pursuers inside the labyrinth of tunnels but then he hears footsteps approaching. It turns out to be Algy who had been lowered into the hole to look for him. After several dead-ends, they finally find a way out of the mountain and meet up with Dickpa, Malty and Angus. The party makes its way back to the lake and the aircraft--but it's not there! Chapter 13: What happened to Ginger After summoning the rest of the party to help Biggles, Ginger had gone back to mount guard on the aircraft. However he did not take into account that the Chungs might be invisible when they mounted their attack. By shooting blindly at something which seemed to be weighing down a wing, he manages to disposed of one. But he then collides and scuffles with another unseen form inside the cabin. He manages to pick up his revolver and fire at something just as a heavy object comes crashing down and knocks him out. He awakes to find a dead Chung next to him. Nearby, a Chung ray gun is still on and has burnt a hole in the cabin, causing the aircraft to flood and sink. Ginger hurriedly starts the engines and taxis to the shore just in time. The rest of the party join him and they succeed in bailing out the aircraft and patching the hole. Recovering from the adventures, Biggles tells them it is time to leave but first they must try to thwart the Chung plans to take over the world. There is only one option: they must try to dislodge that gigantic overhanging spur of rock. It would displace and push a large amount of water over the lip of the dam and flood the Chung power station. Chapter 14: Deluge By stripping the cordite from their ammunition and packing them into tins, they soon make a few makeshift explosives and lay a fuse with petrol. However, lightning ignites the petrol a little too soon and the party jumps on board the aircraft to get away before the explosion. They were just a little too late. The rock hit the surface of the lake, creating a wall of water which began rushing towards the aircraft. Biggles turns the Wanderer in the only direction available, away from the huge wave, and heading for the dam but it is obvious there won't be enough distance to unstick. But just at the last moment, the dam collapses and the aircraft pulls clear. It seemed the falling rock had created a pressure wave which caused the dam to give way. Down below, they see that their plan has succeeded only too well. The Chung power station is flooded and the enormous flood of water had swept away the Chung buildings. It did not look like any of the Chungs could have survived. The mission over, the aircraft turns for Chittagong and then home. Chapter 15: Reflections Back at Brendenhall Manor, Malty brings exciting news. The stalagmites which Biggles had stuffed in his pocket during his time inside the mountain had been examined. They contained perhaps 3 ounces of radium. Ounces! Biggles is disappointed, but Malty tells him that this is a huge amount. Radium has never existed in these quantities before and it would be difficult to put a price on it, although it would be in the region of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. The radium would be donated to various research intitutions and hospitals. In the meantime, Malty had arranged for a cottage on the Clyde to be bought for Angus. As for Biggles, Algy and Ginger, Malty suggests that he hand the Wanderer over to them, with enough funds to finance their next expedition--an offer which Biggles and the others are most happy to accept. Category:Plot summaries